You Cant' Raise Two Sons

The story concerning Abraham is an interesting one. Recognized as the Father of Faith (Romans 4), Abraham had his own set of special challenges in his effort to serve and please God. One of those challenges had to do with his two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. Isaac was the son of promise, while Ishmael was the son of works. Isaac was the son born of the Spirit, Ishmael was the son born of the flesh. You can read in Genesis the specific accounts of the birth of these two sons. But at the end of the day, the point that I want to raise is that both of these boys, were Abraham's sons.

I frame it this way because the challenge that Abraham had with Ishmael and Isaac is a very similar struggle that each of us has in working out our faith relationship with God. There are two spirits wrestling on the inside of us (Galatians 5). One is the flesh, the sinful nature; and the other is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit we receive at the New Birth (John 3). Even though we know our responsibility is to yield to the Spirit (Romans 6), what gets overlooked a lot of times is the degree of affection that we have towards the flesh. Even though the flesh represents enmity with God (Romans 8), the reality of it is that the flesh has been with us (and in us) longer than the Holy Spirit (Psalm 50). This is where the struggle is, and we need to face it as such. Remember, both Ishmael and Isaac were Abraham's sons.

What we need to understand in the witness of Abraham is that you can't raise two sons. When you have sons that represent two different spirits (from a spiritual and theological context), you can't raise both of them. You can't nurture both of them. One has to be embraced, and the other has to be discarded. This is the same challenge with those things in our lives that have been birthed by the flesh, the sinful nature, and those things that have been birthed by the Holy Ghost. Abraham couldn't hold on to both sons. And neither can we.

As the story goes, Ishmael was "afflicting" Isaac (Genesis 21). He was "mocking" his younger brother. When Sarah, Isaac's mother, witnessed this, she said in essence to Abraham, Ishmael and his mama got to go! Abraham conceded and God gave confirmation that what Sarah was saying was right. Could you imagine the paternal agony Abraham must have felt having to leave his own flesh and blood son to die out in the desert? But the only way that Isaac could develop unhindered was for Ishmael and that which birthed him (his mother) to be cast out.

Saints, the only way the promise (Isaac) that God has birthed in us spiritually and supernaturally, is going to be properly nurtured, is if the Ishmaels in our lives are cast out of our hearts. I know it's painful, because Ishmael is a part of us. Ishmael was birthed in us. Ishmael came out of us. But saints, Ishmael was not of God. And neither are the Ishmaels of your life. As we prepare for the Kingdom move of God, remember the lesson that Abraham had to painfully learn: You can't raise two sons.